Logan city residents hoped to address animal care in Cache Valley at a city council meeting Wednesday but Logan’s mayor suggested a separate meeting to discuss community concerns. The date of the meeting will be announced at a later date.
Logan city councilman Tom Jensen said the crowd became emotional after learning the issue would not be completely addressed during the evening’s city council meeting. Dozens of Logan citizens showed up to voice concern for animals in Cache Valley after the Cache Humane Society terminated their contract with the city.
“I think the animal issue came out as well as I’d hoped," Jensen said. "We gave them some time to speak; we arranged for another meeting."
The future meeting will include Logan Mayor Holly Daines, Police Chief Gary Jensen and any citizen who wishes to be heard.
“It’s hard to solve something inside of any city council because you don’t have a debate back and forth," Councilman Jensen said. "It’s not a negotiation between the two parties."
The council allowed three Logan city residents to speak on the issue before closing public comments for the evening. Though the council would be approving any future budget, Councilman Jensen said the issue isn’t solvable by the counsel alone because contracts are negotiated by the mayor and would then be signed by the police department.
“They’re upset. So they thought the proper venue was to come to the city council. Even if I listen to all 50 people that wanted to say something, I still couldn’t do anything," Jensen said. "It’s like going to your neighbor’s house to settle an argument between you and your wife.”
After the meeting adjourned, Police Chief Jensen answered questions to a crowd of about 20 people outside the city council room. He said though there is potential for the city to partner with the humane society in the future, the meeting wouldn’t be for the city and the humane society to renegotiate.
“Let’s go have a mayor meeting," he said. "Because now you have the two people - myself and the mayor - that get to hear your frustrations, to hear your struggles, to hear Cache Humane. Then we get to make decisions that are based on, hopefully, facts and a little less emotions, right? We’re all emotional. I’m emotional.”
Though tensions were high and no long-term solution was reached, many citizens stepped forward to voice concern or offer assistance to the issue.